


All That is Best.

by crapitskizaru



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, happy bday to the strawman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 07:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20578988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crapitskizaru/pseuds/crapitskizaru





	All That is Best.

It was hard to accept the truth, especially when it was being so blatantly pointed out to him in the spread-open calendar that taunted him from the desk. The short hand in the clock indicated there was only an hour left to midnight; just an hour, and this day will be over. 

Just an hour. 

Despite his body remaining motionless behind the desk, his thoughts were racing - scolding his own self for having had any kinds of…_expectations_.

There were more significant issues to be dealt with, his crew certainly focused on surviving among the forces of the Yonkou than on preparing a surprise party for their captain. He couldn’t blame them. Keeping track with the all the days flying by was already challenging enough. 

And yet there it was, the writhing snake of disappointment in his gut. His hands clenched around the edge of the desk, eyes sharp on the lazy arrows in the clock.

He was so lost in his own contemplations, even the soft knocking on the door made him flinch in surprise. 

“Yes?” he asked, standing up straight. 

The person launched themselves through the threshold so enthusiastically, he couldn’t make out just _who _it was. That was, until they rammed the door closed and turned to face him, clutching a cake in both hands. 

“Congratulations!” Drake proudly smirked, lifting up the cake. “You’re one year closer to death.” 

There was a moment of silence during which Hawkins forgot how words and sentences were formed. The headliner was towering above him, as always, seemingly content with the surprised look on Hawkins face. He even had a tiny birthday hat strapped to the top of his head. 

“What is this?” 

“What does it look like? Your birthday cake.” Drake appeared satisfied with the end result as he put it down on the desk, sending all of the neatly-stacked papers and documents to the floor with one swoop. When he was halfway through cutting a second piece of the cake, licking his thumb off of the sweet frosting, Hawkins finally snapped out of the delusion. 

“I–I didn’t think you’d remember.”

Drake sent him a quick glance, more focused on the dessert, but went back with his eyes immediately as soon as he noticed Hawkins expression. 

“Of course I remember,” he murmured. “It’s so boring out here, all I do is stare at my planner and wait for any important dates to come by.” 

“How did you get the cake?” 

“It may have involved some serious misuse of authority and a whole lot more of begging the locals. Let’s just say I’m not proud of it.” 

Hawkins couldn’t help but smirk, the sudden lightness in his heart only adding to the feeling of relief. Someone _remembered_. The cake had already been cut into pieces and being offered up to him eagerly. 

“You’re far too excited about this, Drake.” 

“If only you could have seen your face when I walked in…Talking about excitement. You looked like you won the lottery.” 

“I just,” Hawkins paused, sighing heavily. “I wasn’t expecting anything.” 

His colleague raised a taunting eyebrow and took a bite of the dessert, some of the frosting ending up stuck to his lower lip. It took all of the willpower not to watch as Drake slowly licked it away. 

“What did your cards say? You must have checked them, don’t try to lie. You can’t even take a damn step without that voodoo stuff.” 

Suddenly a particular piece of cake seemed very absorbing to Hawkins, the man staring a hole right through it. How did Drake know that he checked the cards over such triviality? Had he become so easy to read recently? 

“Chance of a birthday party…8%,” Hawkins murmured without lifting his gaze. The silence was broken by almost inaudible munching as Drake showed his interest to yet another piece of cake. It was truly a mystery how this man maintained all of the hard muscles while keeping up with such diet.

“You won’t need to check the cards next year,” Drake mumbled out, the tiny birthday hat slightly crooked from his enthusiastic movements. “I’ll always remember.”


End file.
